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Monthly Archives: July 2016

In the last week we have been revealed new pokemon and new abilities. Let’s take a look and breakdown some of the newly revealed pokemon of the Alola region.

First we have Bounsweet the fruit pokemon. It is a grass type with access to the abilities Leaf Guard and Oblivious. Aesthetically Bounsweet shares a great deal of the same visual design with Cherubi and its evolutionary line. It is said to exude a delicious smell which causes other pokemon to swallow them whole. People of the Alola region use Bounsweet as a form of air freshener for their homes.

“it exudes a delicious smell which many times causes other pokemon to swallow them whole”–Pokemon Sun & Moon

The inspiration for Bounsweet seems to stem from the Mangosteen, a native Hawaiian fruit. In some of the folklore and stories surrounding the fruit, there are claims that the Mangosteen had some connections to Queen Victoria and how she supposedly offered world travelers rewards for the export of the fruit. Written accounts document that Queen victoria was introduced to the fruit by a world traveler, she instantly fell in love with the fruit. These written accounts also claim that among the many fruit that travelers had tasted, that the Mangosteen was the Queen/King of all fruit.

Although many of these accounts lack enough historical evidence to hold legitimacy, the overly popular stories of the Mangosteen and Queen Victoria may inform of us about a potential evolutionary look. Perhaps Bounsweet will evolve and loose its protective pink shell to reveal its white fruit that will resemble a royal like ball gown dress in similar fashion of Bolossom’s and Magearna’s bottom torses. One other interesting fact is that “it drives of enemies by rotating the calyx on its head which is the green leafy portion that is found on most fruit when picked off from its stem. It is possible that this leafy calyx may turn into a crown of sorts to complete Bounsweet’s royalty like gown look.

Moving onto to the dangerously cuddling pokemon we have Bewear of Course. Bewear is the strong arm pokemon and its typing is Normal/Fighting. It will gain access to the abilities Klutz and Fluffy. The fluffy ability reduces damage by half when attacks make contact; however, it also doubles the damage of fire type moves taken. In looking for native animals of Hawaii, the bear which Bewear resembles is not an animal generally found in tropical areas.

“it is unaware of its own strength”–Pokemon Sun & Moon

A source of inspiration for Bewear might actually be the California Bear. I say this because of its fluffy ability in how it receives double the damage from fire moves. In southern California especially during the summer the state is prone to forest fires which decimates the environment and many times the wildlife in the area like bears. Because of Bewear’s description of not being aware of its own strength, its attack stat will most definitely be off the charts.

Next we have Comfey the Posey Picker Pokemon. It is the fairy lei pokemon that emits a soothing fragrance which gives rings of flowers to those it is fond of. I find Comfey to be similar to Klefki in design. It has the abilities Flower Veil and Triage. The triage ability is super interesting when it comes to how it could possibly see competitive play. The ability makes restorative moves gain the highest priority in battle. If Comfey base stats are spread within HP, DEF, and SP.DEF, I can see it becoming a great supportive wall that can help heal other pokemon with moves like wish and heal pulse. This is still speculation but I am hoping that this fairy type gets some spotlight in competitive battling.

“it gives rings of flowers to those it is fond of”-Pokemon Sun & Moon

The design is so fitting to the Alola region and gets inspiration to the traditional Hawaiian lei which are “supposed to represent a hug that encircles you all day long.” Furthermore, different colored arrangements have meanings that range from love, appreciation, admiration, friendship, loyalty, and so forth.

Next we have Mudsdale the draft horse pokemon. It is a ground type with the access to the abilities Own Tempo which prevents it from being confused and a new ability known as Stamina which raises defense by 1 stage every time it is attacked. It is describe as having emotional fortitude and defeating opponents with a single powerful blow. The legs are also coated in protective mud that increase the force of its attacks.

“it can defeat opponents with a single powerful blow”-Pokemon Sun & Moon

The inspiration for mudsdale comes from wild hawaiin horses most present in the big islands. Furthermore, the protective mud coating is inspired by Clysdale horses that are identified by their feathered legs.

With all that said, speculating its competitive use, I can see Mudsdale being a defensive and offensive pokemon. If the base stats are right, combining its Stamina ability with a high defense base stat could make Mudsdale a force to be reckoned with. The ground typing could give it access to earthquake and stone edge which are powerful physical moves.

Next, we have the mysterious yet lovable Mimikyu who sports a worn out Pikachu doll as a disguise. It is the first ghost/fairy type pokemon with a new ability known as disguise of course. The disguise ability allows its disguise to serve as a decoy. Once it is attacked, the decoy breaks negating the damage it would have received from the attack.

“it wears a pikachu doll from 20 years ago because it wants to be loved like pikachu”-Pokemon Sun & Moon

Mimikyu uses the Pikachu disguise as a way to make friend with humans although many warn that if a human here to see a Mimikyu without its disguise that they would be cursed. After looking into potential inspirations for Mimikyu, the closes thing that I could find are the night marches who are ghost of ancient warriors who usually appear from long ago battle fields. In Hawaiian folklore, the night marchers are seen in groups and making eye contact with one of these spirits should be avoided because one could become cursed or taken away and never heard of again.

Competitively, Mimikyu’s disguise ability could be used alongside an item like focus sash to give it battle longevity. Although it is unsure if it will evolve, if the ability does not change, I can see it using moves like toxic, reflect, and hex to whether down teams.

Lastly, we have Wimpod which is a bug and water type. It has a knew ability known as wimp-out that allows it to flee from a wild battle or switch-out when its HP goes below 50%. It has a cowardly nature and spits out a poisonous liquid when threatened. the likely hood of this pokemon becoming a poison type is high because of it is described as having a poisonous reaction when retreating.

Competitively, WImpod could be used to scout out an opponents strength and move pool. Because Wimpod retreats after loosing more than 50% of its HP, a trainer could use the intel to switch into a pokemon that can better handle a situation.

Again Johtonians, than you for the support and be sure to tune-in at our YouTube Channel for more Pokemon!

Pokémon is fun am I right? For many Pokémon fans the gaming series is about the collecting, the battling, and the storyline that unfolds along the journey. Some go as far as to take different mechanics from the games and chose to master those aspects such as breeding, completing the pokedex, team building, and for those seeking glory Competitive Battling which encompasses for the most part many if not all of these aspects mentioned to become the best there ever was!

In this piece you will find helpful tips, strategies, and some great tools that most Competitive Battlers use to up their battling skills. Many of the things that I will be mentioning are free to use and to no surprise easy even for the most novice battler looking to improve. And just so you know, some of these sites are even used by those many professional competitive battlers like Aaron Zheng and Ray Rizzo, so why not use what the pros are using to give you a better shot at reaching the top if not among the best.

Pokemon Showdown in short is an online Battle Simulator where a player can build pokemon teams in minutes, battle live with others in a variety of rulesets, and even communicate with others in the competitive battling community.

Why use Pokemon Showdown? Well, it cuts down on the time it would take for a player to grind, breed, and apply strategies through the actual pokemon game. By using Pokemon Showdown you can efficiently speed up the process to see what types of results your battling style is producing. It would be pretty daunting to create a team through your game cartridge with the expectation that your strategy will reign supreme to later find that your team has too many weakness and that your strategy just doesn’t produce results with the Pokémon you worked so diligently to breed, EV train, and level up.

This platform allows players to practice those strategies in mind, make changes to teams, and try playing in simulated rulesets like that of actual official competitions to see how your teams hold up against the current meta.

How will this simulator help me become a better player? Well after much practice, advice from the community, and testing your team you can then save and record those teams, then use the data that you feel is giving you results to then actually create legit pokemon teams on your game cartridges to enter official tournaments.

The bonus of Pokemon Showdown is that it’s directly connected to our next tool; SMOGON.

Smogon “University” is an “online community dedicated to the art of competitive battling” and like the Smogon website claims, they have the data, forums, and largest amount of resources in relation to competitive battling to back it up. Before going any further, it is important to note that Smogon apart from playing by official battle regulations also has its own competitive battling community that operates and plays under different rulesets by what is known as “TIERS”, which is signified by such terms as OU, UBERS, NU, RU, and so forth. Now before you run for the hills!!! These rules are just a different way to play pokemon to make competitive battling more balanced and at times challenging for the betterment of competitive play. The “tier” system is not an official pokemon ruleset, however, “tiers” are important in the sense that a lot of research, analysis, application, and hard work has gone into grouping pokemon by how well they are played and used in the current meta. With that said, using the information in the tiering system can definitely help a player make educated choices when building teams and executing strategies.

The database is broken down by generations and gives you in-depth analysis, IV/EV spreads, item usage, move pools, suggested move-sets, and strategies of any pokemon and its competitive viability. This is definitely a critical resource to make you more knowledgeable about a pokemon’s potential to play well. Although the website has wealth of knowledge, it is always changing with new strategies used and the introduction of new generations as they are released. As a player, try and experiment different moves and strategies that have not been exercised. A great example is the 2014 VGC Champion, Se Jun Park who won World’s using unpopular strategies to weather down players to reach the top. He has become a notable player because of how he plays and chooses to use pokemon. One of the most popular matches was his strategic use of Pachurisu in the finals which garnered him the World VGC title. It was not till then that players took a closer look at Pachurisu to examine its viability. Perhaps in your team building efforts, there is an overlooked pokemon or strategy not yet used; waiting for you to bring it to light?

Now that you know where to research, build teams, practice and apply your strategies, we can move onto more advanced skills. Looking at what is popular of course. I believe that looking into what pokemon teams and strategies are giving positive results can highly inform a player of what they will encounter in battles. With this knowledge at hand, they can surmise how their team can counter those inevitable challenges.

To aid with this, there are Pokemon Usage Stats websites like Smogon and others* that give you a breakdown of the most common move sets and pokemon. Taking a look at what you will face can inform and tune-up your battle strategy. Perhaps you can use an unconventional move set on pokemon that counters some of the most prevalent pokemon teams. Catching your opponent by surprise might just give you the edge you need to secure a match when they are not used to facing unpopular or new strategies. There are a myriad of changes and strategies that a player can incorporate, but only knowing the competition will assist you in winning matches more often.

The need for speed! Well, actually who goes first and who goes last is something a player should always be tracking! Nugget Bridge speed tier is very helpful site when looking at your teams speed. Many matches are many times decided by the person who opted in for a boost in speed, attack, defense, etc. I have found that speed control is one of the challenges that I myself till this day struggle with because I am constantly thinking about whether or not my team has the necessary power to take out my opponent. With attacks like tailwind which boost an entire team’s speed by 2 or Icy Wind which can cause speed reduction, it’s important to stay vigilant when deciding what move to take in order to control stat boost or negate them with one of your own team members. Other popular stat challenges are abilities like Intimidate and prankster. Furthermore, don’t forget about priority moves like protect, fake-out, quick attack, etc. These attack will be given priority usage even though a pokemon is up against a speed tier out of their league. Learn about the most predominant stat boosting and reduction moves; gaining knowledge about how these moves work will give you an upper hand when deciding your next move.

Inevitably like many games, it comes down to the MATH!! Simply put it, there are a max number stats a pokemon gains and each move has a potential power it can deal to an opponent pokemon. I would consider using damage calculators a highly advance tool because you would want to establish a good foundation of battling knowledge before using a calculator to infer your next move during battle. There are a couple of calculators but I have found that Smogon’s set up, has everything in a single interface where it you can play around with “hypothetical” situations in which you can see the chances of how much damage you will receive from an opponent and vice versa. It features the ability to input natures, moves, boost and reductions. It is a helpful tool when playing battle spot online during competitions to help track pokemon during matches.

With all these things in mind. In the end, practice makes perfect as there is no perfect team to counter all weaknesses. Even the most competitive pokemon have their weak points. These tools will definitely make you a better player and with constant usage you will see results.

Lastly, here are all the links and couple of other tools to check out that give you a breakdown of your team’s weaknesses and EV distribution.

The news these past few weeks has been quite awesome with new pokemon revealed and the Worldwide (sort of..sorry Europe) release of PokemonGO. Just to some up my thoughts and news on Pokemon for July, below you will find a recap of the news and also a quick discussion on Top 5 New Pokemon from Sun and Moon to potentially see competitive play when the games release in November.

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